1. Field of the Invention
An oil spill containment boom for use between a ship and docking pier to contain oil spills during the loading or unloading of oil products, and specifically to an improved oil spill containment boom which adjusts itself to rapidly changing draft of the abutting ship while maintaining its position with a self-contained flexible bar providing a spring-like tension to the body of the boom which allows the boom to be placed in position between the pier and the ship easily and quickly, usually by one person.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The large world-wide demand for petroleum based products and in particular oil and gasoline has greatly increased the probabilities of oil spills and petro-chemical pollution because shipping dominates the transport of oil and gasoline products throughout the world. Of great concern is the spillage of oil or oil contaminants into bodies of water which provides an immense pollution problem. Of particular concern is the loading or unloading of ships bearing oil from a pier side mooring, usually accomplished by hoses and high pressure pumping systems. Any rupture of the hose or fittings while the hose is disposed over water between the pier and ship usually results in large quantities of oil being dumped into the body of water.
Devices for containing oil spills on a body of water and in particular floating oil spill containment booms are known in the prior art. Devices to contain oil between a transfer vessel and a pier are known. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,739 issued Oct. 23, 1973 to MacLean, a system is shown that provides containment between the pier and a ship using a pair of flexible barrier walls which are controlled in length by large pistons connected to the barrier walls. The pistons permit expansion and contraction of the barrier walls between the ship and pier to accommodate movements of the ship while maintaining the barrier wall ends firmly against the ship. Such a system requires the use of expensive pneumatic cylinders and tubes and must be firmly engaged to the containment curtain. Apart from the complexity and cost, the system also requires power assist from a pneumatic source in order to be deployed. Another containment type device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,598, issued Sept. 1, 1964 to Smith for an apparatus for confining floating debris employing a floating boom that surrounds the ship while it is anchored in port. The Smith device is time consuming to deploy and requires large amounts of floating boom for extremely large vessels. Deployment of such a system also involves several man hours of work. U.S. Pat. No. 3,599,434, issued Jun. 3, 1969, to Minoud, shows a floatable tube and skirt that is used to surround an oil drilling rig to contain spilled oil. This containment system is large and takes several man hours to deploy.
Conventional oil spill containment booms currently being marketed provide a floatation collar made of a lightweight floatation material that has attached below it a thin flexible sheet that acts as the barrier and a ballast connected along the bottom of the barrier skirt. Such booms may be purchased from American Marine, Inc. of Cocoa, Florida.
One drawback of using these conventionally available floating booms is the necessity of attaching one end of the boom to the ship, normally with a magnet to the hull because the ship's hull does not have suitable connecting elements for ropes attached to the boom ends. Using high speed pumps and hoses, vessel can be loaded or unloaded of oil or other liquid cargo relatively quickly (in hours). This results in large changes in the draft of the vessel in short time periods. Using conventional containment booms and the magnetic connection to the ship hull, without human monitoring or intervention the changing vessel draft will move the containment boom out of position, making the boom ineffective for containing spilled pollutants. For example, as a vessel is rapidly unloaded of an oil cargo the hull can rise several feet. The containment boom firmly attached by a magnet at one end to the ship's hull rises with the hull often above the water line, thereby losing the booms ability to contain a spill. To prevent boom improper positioning due to hull movement, a person is assigned to monitor the boom position. The present invention overcomes this problem by providing a non-complex, inexpensive oil containment boom that includes a self-adjusting tension permitting hull movement without magnetic or rope attachment to the hull while firmly holding the containment barrier wall against the ship's hull at all times.
With the present invention, normally one person can quickly and easily deploy and remove the oil spill containment boom in pairs between a ship and pier. The booms provide for firmly yet flexibly holding each boom securely in position between the ship and pier regardless of motion by the ship while it is moored next to the pier.